# In search of - parody about mainstream writers trying SF **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590 "2017-09-05T20:57:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/1 "2017-09-05T20:57:14Z")
Some years ago, I read an article online criticizing the tendency of mainstream writers to try to write science fiction without doing any reading in the field, and thus accidentally recreating the most ancient cliches of the field. The parody featured a “literary” writer calling his agent excitedly to report that he was going to write a novel about a “detective” investigating a “crime” (“No, this isn’t some mere genre detective story; I’m doing something novel and exciting!”) with the twist that the detective would gather all the suspects together and (here’s the exciting new part!) explain all the evidence and reveal the name of the killer, etc., etc. Does this seem familiar to anyone? I’d like to read it again (and cite it). ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/2 "2017-09-08T17:06:38Z")
I don’t have any leads, I’m afraid, but I thought this could use a bump—I’d be eager to read this one, myself. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/3 "2017-09-08T18:38:40Z")
Thanks for the bump, and if I find it, I’ll be sure to post a link when I do. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/4 "2017-09-08T19:02:37Z")
There’s some guy around here who knows a lot about science fiction, maybe we should get him into this thread so he can help… Oh, wait. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/5 "2017-09-08T19:09:28Z")
I’ve done a bunch of googling, and so far have no luck. Lots of core concepts here, tho, so it’s hard to find the decisive one to search for. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/6 "2017-09-08T19:20:34Z")
[Here you go.](http://www.ourdailyread.com/2011/05/iain-m-banks-science-fiction-is-no-place-for-dabblers/) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/7 "2017-09-08T22:18:13Z")
Good job, **TOWP**! And it’s by Iain M. Banks, no less! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/8 "2017-09-08T22:55:08Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > [Here you go.](http://www.ourdailyread.com/2011/05/iain-m-banks-science-fiction-is-no-place-for-dabblers/) Thanks! Really appreciate you finding this. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/9 "2017-09-08T23:09:51Z")
Well, shucks; now I regret not prefacing it by saying that I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here, and then explaining how a stray remark from one of you put me on the right track and yet there was one thing that puzzled me… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/10 "2017-09-08T23:16:56Z")
You might also be interested in David Langford’s [Dragonhiker’s Guide](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragonhikers-Guide-Battlefield-Covenant-Odyssey/dp/0947578013/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504912535&sr=8-1&keywords=dragonhiker%27s+guide), a most worthy collection of parodies. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/11 "2017-09-08T23:45:15Z")
How the hell did you find that with only that description? Especially since it’s more of an editorial than a parody. Well anyway since you are all here let me tell you my idea for a story. It’s two astronauts, a man and a woman, they get shipwrecked on a planet. I’m thinking Matt Damon and Jennifer Lawrence. So they start off hating each other then as the movie goes along they fall in love. Just as it about to end we hit the audience with the twist: Their names are Adam and Eve and it’s Earth they crashed on! It’s gonna be a big hit. HUGH! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/12 "2017-09-08T23:54:06Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Well, shucks; now I regret not prefacing it by saying that I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here, and then explaining how a stray remark from one of you put me on the right track and yet there was one thing that puzzled me… 😉 And you have just one more question… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/13 "2017-09-09T00:42:49Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > How the hell did you find that with only that description? Heh. See, the vagueness of that description was actually the whole point, sure as I meant what I said about a stray remark putting me on the right track: **Bo** was _correct_ about how hard it is to google the decisive specific when there are so many to search for. After all, **Andy** is a smart guy – and so would’ve found it, if _he’d_ searched for the right specific. So I figured: why search for specifics? Why google clichés if I can just google “clichés”? So I googled “clichés” and “science fiction” and “mystery” and “genre” and “literary” and _nothing else_; and it popped right up. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/14 "2017-09-09T00:45:15Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Heh. See, the vagueness of that description was actually the whole point, sure as I meant what I said about a stray remark putting me on the right track: **Bo** was _correct_ about how hard it is to google the decisive specific when there are so many to search for. > > After all, **Andy** is a smart guy – and so would’ve found it, if _he’d_ searched for the right specific. So I figured: why search for specifics? Why google clichés if I can just google “clichés”? > > So I googled “clichés” and “science fiction” and “mystery” and “genre” and “literary” and _nothing else_; and it popped right up. Brilliant! Holmes, you astonish me! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-search-of-parody-about-mainstream-writers-trying-sf/795590/15 "2017-09-12T01:34:53Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > You might also be interested in David Langford’s [Dragonhiker’s Guide](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragonhikers-Guide-Battlefield-Covenant-Odyssey/dp/0947578013/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504912535&sr=8-1&keywords=dragonhiker%27s+guide), a most worthy collection of parodies. Got it. I like Langford’s work very much (he wrote a terrific pastiche of a Father Brown story a few years back)